Have I Got News for You is often cited as beginning the increasing domination of panel shows in British TV comedy, and remains one of the genre's key standard-bearers. In recognition of this, the show received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2011 British Comedy Awards.[1] It was the first time the honour had been bestowed upon a collective instead of an individual or double act.

For its first 10 years, the programme was shown on BBC Two. In 2000, the BBC moved its nightly BBC One news bulletin, the BBC Nine O'Clock News, from nine o'clock to ten o'clock (now known as the BBC News at Ten) after ITV moved their long-running ten o'clock bulletin, News at Ten, to eleven o'clock. This left a gap in the schedules, and Have I Got News For You was moved as a result to 9pm on Friday nights on BBC One, where it has remained since, apart from two series in 2010 when the show was broadcast on Thursday nights.

To date 48 series of the programme have been broadcast. The UKTV channel Dave carries regular repeats of the show.

Merton took a break from Have I Got News for You during the 11th series in 1996, making only one appearance as a guest on Hislop's team. He was variously replaced as opposing team captain by Clive Anderson, Alan Davies and Eddie Izzard (with another two episodes featuring an equal-billing double act as the opponents of Hislop's team). Merton later explained that at the time he was "very tired" of the show and that he thought it had become "stuck in a rut". Nevertheless, he added that he felt his absence gave the programme the "shot in the arm" it needed and that it had been "better ever since".[2]

In May 2002, following newspaper headlines of his sex with a prostitute and use of illegal drugs,[3] Deayton was relentlessly ridiculed on the show by Hislop and Merton (along with guests Dave Gorman and Ken Livingstone).[4] Following a second round of revelations about his private life later in the year, leading to further mockery, Deayton was fired in October, two shows into series 24.[5]

At short notice, Merton hosted the first episode after Deayton's departure, and was described as "merciless" in his treatment of his former co-star.[6] A series of guest hosts appeared for the remainder of the series, including Anne Robinson, Boris Johnson, and Jeremy Clarkson.[7] Despite an initial search for a permanent successor to Deayton, having a different guest host each week proved successful, with average audience figures increasing from 6 million to 7 million.[8] It was therefore announced in June 2003 that this feature would continue permanently.[9]

Hislop is the only person to have appeared in every episode — despite suffering from appendicitis during one 1994 edition and having to go to hospital immediately afterwards.[10] Merton is one of three people to have played all three roles of the show's format at various points: he has been captain of his own team, was the first post-Deayton presenter (series 24, episode 3), and has also been a guest on a team (Hislop's team, in series 11, episode 1). The others who have occupied all three positions are Clive Anderson and Frank Skinner, who have both stood in for Merton as team captain (in series 11, episodes 3 & 6 and series 36, episode 5 respectively.[11]) Anderson also filled in for Merton at the last minute for the special live edition for 24 Hour Panel People for Red Nose Day 2011. (Martin Clunes could be considered the fourth person to have done all three roles, after sitting in Merton's usual seat in series 11, episode 4, but with his teammate being Men Behaving Badly co-star Neil Morrissey, the duo were given equal billing, with no captain.)

Alexander Armstrong holds the record for both most appearances as guest presenter, as well as most guest appearances in total, having appeared 25 times in the central chair. He has never appeared in any other role. Ross Noble holds the record for most appearances as a panelist, with 16 including his one extra appearance as team captain. Andy Hamilton holds the record for most appearances for someone who has never been host or captain with 15 and Jo Brand holds the record for most appearances by a woman, also with 15.

Many guests have appeared on the programme multiple times. The list below includes guests who have appeared as presenter or panelist, and does not include the two video-exclusive releases, Have I Got Unbroadcastable News for You and The Official Pirate Video, nor the various Comic Relief specials.

Have I Got News for You began on BBC Two on 28 September 1990 and transferred to BBC One in October 2000. "Myself and Ian, we did a disastrous pilot for it," Paul Merton explained nine years later.[12] "It was a beautiful summer's afternoon in 1990. Far too nice to be in a television studio, but I think the BBC had already bought it, so that's how it became a series."

Two series are made every year. At first, the number of episodes per series was inconsistent. However, a pattern soon formed whereby the spring series between April to June comprises eight episodes and the autumn series between October to December contains nine, with a one-week break in the middle to allow the broadcasting of Children in Need.

The 39th series, broadcast in early 2010, moved the show to a Thursday night slot after 19 years on Friday nights (with the exception of the Election special, which aired on a Friday night). The 40th series remained in this new time slot, despite one episode of the 40th series been broadcast the day after due to the Royal Variety Performance; both series featured an extra episode, with the spring series now featuring 9 episodes and the autumn series 10 episodes.

Over an hour's worth of material is recorded for each 30-minute programme for broadcast the following day, allowing the programme to remain topical while the BBC's lawyers have time to request cuts of potentially defamatory material. As for its popularity, Merton explained that it was mostly word-of-mouth: "No reviewer could possibly review it in that time. We started off with an audience of two million, and somebody might have mentioned it to their friend, and then it sort of built up a momentum of its own."[12]

In recent years, the late-night weekend repeat has occasionally contained extra material from the week's recording. This became a permanent feature from the spring 2007 series, with the repeat having a running time of 40 minutes, and being titled (in the TV listings) Have I Got a Bit More News for You.[13]

"There's been a lot of confusion, with people saying, 'Well, they see the questions beforehand,' which we do," revealed Merton in 1999. "But some people say we see the answers, which we don't, because that would rob it of being a quiz."[12]

"There is a certain amount of show business that goes on in putting on a show," continued Merton. "We found very early on that it's worth seeing the questions beforehand so that you can work out your depth of ignorance. If you really don't know, you think, 'Well, I've really got to try and say something here.' It's much better to be doing that for ten or fifteen minutes before the show than be doing it when the cameras are rolling, in front of an audience, going, 'Well, who's he?'"[12]

Norman Tebbit wrote an article in The Mail on Sunday criticising the whole programme: 'Well, of course Have I Got News for You is all edited. These people, they couldn't improvise live. You put them on a stage, they wouldn't be able to improvise.' Merton said of this: "Well, when Norman Tebbit said I couldn't improvise, I was... [blows out cheeks and then goes silent]."[14]

The main section of the show comprises several rounds, although, as noted above, this is liable to change. Since the show originally aired, several rounds have been dropped from the original format, but a typical show will usually consist of the following:

Round 1 is the "Film Round". Silent video clips, usually from news reports, are played to the teams. Two points are awarded for correctly identifying the story - but as the round covers the major stories of the week, the quiz aspect is downplayed here in favour of discussion and banter. The host will still ask questions to highlight details of a story, but no further points are awarded for the answers.

Sometimes, the clips used have been specially chosen from particular sources, such as in the 2008 Christmas special, which used clips from Christmas specials of various other TV programmes to provide the clues. The 1993 'Thatcher special' presented a slight variation called Who Dares Loses?, where the teams had to identify who in the clip 'lost'.

The only occasion that the video clip element of this round has been deviated from was during series 37, when one of the clips was audio only with no pictures. The question was about the Hum, which none of the panel could hear anyway.

Early series featured two similar games later in the show; the "Connections Round", with the panel identifying the individuals and the story that linked them, and the "Archive Round", featuring pre-1990 news footage in a 'what happened next?' format. Both were dropped as the more popular rounds began to use up more time.

Round 2 was originally the "Tabloid Headlines Round", in which the panellists identified and commented on the more flippant stories of the week from sufficiently pun-filled tabloid headlines.

Another of the original rounds later dropped was the similar "Mini-Headlines Round", where the panel had to identify a story from the four words used in the original tabloid report as effective chapter headings.

In 2004, the headlines were filtered out and replaced with a picture game. An image is slowly revealed to the teams, the object being for one to buzz in before the other and guess how the resulting person or object is relevant to the week's news. Originally this took the form of the "Picture-Spin Quiz". Regular variants since have included the "Jigsaw of News" and the Christmas-themed "Giblets of News", while others have featured wieldy props for the host, such as the "Wheel of News", the "One-Armed Bandit of News" and the "Strengthometer of News". A few versions have been more specific to that week's guest host; e.g. Dominic West, star of American cop drama The Wire, had the "Squad Car of News".

Occasionally the round is themed around one topic. In these instances, it usually becomes a more straightforward Q&A 'fingers-on-buzzers' round.

Round 3 is the "Odd One Out Round", where four personalities, characters and/or objects are presented to a team, whereupon they must identify the interloper, and the topical, amusing or ridiculously obscure link between the other three. In one episode, Merton's "Odd One Out" selection consisted of 16 images and in another, the round comprised four photos of Michael Howard. On another occasion the four choices were Hislop, Merton and both guests, Germaine Greer and Charles Kennedy. The four pictures used were the live remote feeds from the studio cameras. (This technique was also used in an episode hosted by Ronnie Corbett, when the comedian featured as one of the choices.) One week, after it had been revealed that a group of celebrities had taken out press injunctions, the round consisted of four blanked out images, with the host, Rhod Gilbert, explaining that they were unable to reveal who exactly was the odd one out, or the reason.

A short-lived variant was another take on the aforementioned "Connections Round", with images of three people given, the teams working out what linked them.

When Bruce Forsyth was host, this round was replaced by "Conveyer Belt Connections", a reference to the final round of The Generation Game. One of the belts consisted of people and objects whose resulting connection was that they had all been the Odd One Out in previous editions of the show. This included the disparate grouping together of raw sewage, The Hay Wain, Tinky Winky and Osama bin Laden.

Round 4 is the "Missing Words Round", where newspaper headlines are displayed, with choice words blanked out. The panellists then suggest what these could be. Since 1994, a regular feature of this round is that some of the banners are taken from that week's choice of obscure "guest publication". Over the years, these have included Goat World, Arthritis News, International Car Park Design, "The Caravan Times" and Diarrhoea Digest. Examples of Missing Words are "I'll take Edward up the _____", "Church may be forced to sell _____" and "PM sucked into _____".

After the final scores are read out, there is often an additional Caption Competition, where potentially amusing pictures are shown, to which the panellists are invited to provide an apt headline. No points are awarded for this section.

When Roy Hattersley failed to appear for the 4 June 1993 episode — it was the third time he had cancelled at the last minute — he was replaced with a tub of lard (credited as "The Rt. Hon. Tub of Lard MP"), as it was "liable to give much the same performance and imbued with many of the same qualities". The Tub of Lard was on Merton's team, which went on to win, supposedly despite attempts by Deayton to tip the balance in Hislop's favour, including replacing all of Merton's 'Missing Words' with extracts from foreign language newspapers, and a tabloid headline completely blanked out.[15]

On the week of the first allegations about Deayton the presenter was made the butt of almost every joke. The host opened the show with: "Good evening and welcome to Have I Got News for You, where this week's loser is presenting it." [17] Merton and Hislop then produced copies of the newspaper, including one printed on Merton's shirt, with the allegation and referred to them throughout the show, to the discomfort of Deayton.

The longest running gag in the programme is for one of the panelists, usually Hislop, to belatedly add the word "allegedly" at the end of a potentially slanderous statement.[15]

One of the oldest running gags emerged in 1992, when Merton revealed that his greatest achievement at school was a CSE in metalwork – at the level of ungraded, the lowest possible mark. The tongue-in-cheek class war between the two captains also often sees Merton 'imitate' Hislop with a fake upper class voice, and ending every sentence with "...don't you know?". In the commentary on the original Best of DVD, Merton states that he had a conversation with Stephen Fry about what Fry called "this stupid metalwork thing", and had trouble convincing him that it was in fact true that he had never achieved anything academically higher (in reality Merton left school with two A Levels).[18]

During his time as Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott's weight and alleged gargantuan appetite proved the most continual subject of ridicule, particularly in the joke headlines that open and close the show.[19]

In a 1994 episode, Deayton read out the following: "The BBC are cracking down on references to Ian and Kevin Maxwell, in case programme-makers appear biased in their treatment of these two heartless, scheming bastards." However, the Maxwell brothers were about to go on trial, and on 26 July 1996, the BBC and Hat Trick Productions were fined £10,000 each in the High Court for contempt of court.[20] The risky nature of the joke was readily apparent on the night itself, with Hislop and Merton humorously claiming that Deayton might genuinely have to prepare himself for a spell in prison because of it.

In 1996, a book based on the series, Have I Got 1997 for You, noted about Conservative MP Rupert Allason that "...given Mr Allason's fondness for pursuing libel actions, there are also excellent legal reasons for not referring to him as a conniving little shit". Allason then pursued a libel action against BBC Worldwide and Hat Trick Productions over the remark. He lost the case.[21]

In April 2003, three-time guest panellist Stephen Fry announced that he was boycotting the show following the sacking of Angus Deayton. Fry described Deayton's disposal as "greasy, miserable, British and pathetic".[22]

On 23 November 2007, Ann Widdecombe appeared as a guest host for the second time, with Jimmy Carr as Hislop's team-mate. However, owing to Carr's risqué material, Widdecombe vowed she would never appear on Have I Got News for You again. She said, "His idea of wit is a barrage of filth and the sort of humour most men grow out of in their teens. There's no amount of money for which I would go through those two recording hours again. At one stage I nearly walked out."[23]

The following week, Will Self appeared as a guest. Self, one of the most frequent guests on HIGNFY, said that he would not appear on the show again as well. He said, "I'm afraid that without the reality element, the programme has become just like any other pseudo-panel contest, where funny fellows sit behind desks cracking jokes. Moreover, in the post-Hutton Inquiry era, the BBC seems to have lost its bottle so far as edgy satire is concerned: the sharpest crack I made all evening — and the one that received the most audience laughter — was cut for transmission."[24]

The 26 April 2013 edition prompted over 100 complaints to the BBC and Ofcom for its perceived anti-Scottish stance during a section discussing Scottish independence. Ian Hislop had suggested Mars bars would become the currency of a post-independence Scotland, while guest host Ray Winstone added, "To be fair the Scottish economy has its strengths - its chief exports being oil, whisky, tartan and tramps."[25]

The Very Best of Have I Got News For You (2002), a compilation of highlights from the first 12 years of the show, from the beginning up until the episode made after Deayton hit the tabloids. Just over three hours long, and another several hours of extras, including, among other things, running commentary of the whole presentation by Merton and Hislop. Also featured is a clip of Sir Terry Wogan on Room 101, nominating the programme as one of his pet hates. (Wogan's appearance came during the period when Room 101 was hosted by Nick Hancock and not HIGNFY's own Paul Merton.) In addition, interviews with political figures (taken from the Channel 4 Politics Awards) reveal their opinions on the series.

Have I Got News For You: The Best of the Guest Presenters (2003), which, as well as including the normal half-hour cut of Boris Johnson's first guest-hosting, also included a bonus disc, "The Full Boris", which showed a far longer cut of the same episode (lasting slightly under 60 minutes). Slightly longer versions of the shows featuring Martin Clunes, William Hague and Bruce Forsyth as chairman were also included, as well as a compilation of clips taken from other editions from the first two series with guest hosts (with only the episode hosted by Liza Tarbuck not represented). There are also several small extra features, including a discussion between Paul Merton and Boris Johnson regarding Johnson's appearance as presenter, filmed during his appearance as the celebrity guest on the Merton-hosted Room 101.

Have I Got News For You: The Best of the Guest Presenters Vol. 2 (2005), which is nearer in content to the first "Best of" DVD compilation than its direct predecessor. It contains four 45-minute compilations of the Autumn 2003, Spring 2004, Autumn 2004 and Spring 2005 series, rather than complete episodes; although it does again contain a bonus disc with an uncut version of Boris Johnson's second stint as presenter. This episode lasts about 80 minutes. "The A to Z of HIGNFY" is also included on the second disc. Each letter is used to stand for a different term or name often associated with the show, each highlighted by various example clips - except for the "problem letters" of X, Y and Z, which just lead into a selection of random outtakes. This feature also includes some behind-the-scenes content, with Marcus Brigstocke guiding the viewer around the studio and backstage, on a recording night.

During the late 1990s, the website haveigotnewsforyou.com, run in association with Freeserve, featured interactive versions of the show's games, including the missing words round and the caption competition, with prizes up for grabs.

Have I Got News for You started broadcasting a video podcast, The Inevitable Internet Spin-off, on 13 April 2007.[13] It was initially planned to run for six series, from series 33 to 38, taking it to the end of 2009. Referred to as "webisodes", episodes are available via both the BBC iPlayer and YouTube.

From the beginning of Series 37, a new internet feature, Have I Got News for You, News... for You, was introduced. A short programme featuring typical opening and closing sequences (without the presence of a live audience) as well as other short sketches, it has so far been presented by Alexander Armstrong, and run fortnightly, bridging the gap between series 37 and 38.[27]

Similar shows based on the Have I Got News for You format exist in other countries:

American weekly radio show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! was started in 1998 on public radio network NPR. Based in Chicago, the show follows a similar format with three panellists competing to win but no teams. They play some of the same games including fill in the missing headline, however many games are off limits due to their visual nature. Frequently the same stories are covered on both Wait Wait and Have I Got News for You. Differences include, listeners calling in to win mini games and a celebrity interview and quiz in the middle of the show. Wait Wait is more closely related to The News Quiz which is also the inspiration for Have I Got News for You.[28]

Dutch comedian Raoul Heertje appeared on the original Have I Got News for You in May 1995. A year later he became team captain in the newly launched Dutch version of the show: Dit was het nieuws ("This was the news"). On 19 December 2009, the last episode was broadcast.[29] RTL started making new episodes in May 2011.

In Finland a show called Uutisvuoto (literally "newsleak"; the pun works as well in both languages) has been aired since 1998.

Sveriges Television of Sweden aired their version of the show called Snacka om nyheter (literally: "Talk about news") between 1995 and 2003 (which reappeared for a new series in 2008, this time on Kanal 9).

In Denmark. a localised version of the programme, Ugen Der Gak aired on TV2 from 1995 to 1999, and a new version started airing in 2009 called Nyhedsministeriet (Translation: "The News Ministry").

In Norway, NRK broadcasts the show Nytt på nytt (literally: "The News Anew"). It is one of the most popular TV shows in the country around a million viewers every week (out of a total population of five million). Nytt På Nytt first aired in 1999, and is still aired each week on NRK1. The host is Jon Almaas and the permanent panellists are Knut Nærum and Ingrid Gjessing Linhave. Linhave replaced former permanent panellist Linn Skåber during the fall of 2013, who in turn replaced original panellist Anne-Kat. Hærland.

Loosely based on the theme of Have I Got News for You, ITV in the United Kingdom aired a show in 2004 called Bognor or Bust, also fronted by Angus Deayton, which discussed current affairs.

In Ireland, RTÉ made one pilot episode of a licensed Have I Got News for You clone, with Dermot Morgan as the presenter sometime in the early 1990s. It was never named or made into a full series. However, a topical news and current affairs quiz appeared entitled Don't Feed the Gondolas, which was comparable to a cross between Have I Got News for You and Never Mind the Buzzcocks. Another attempt at an equivalent began in 2010 with That's All We've Got Time For.

Inspired by Have I Got News for You, Pakistan's News, Views & Confused went on air on one of Pakistan’s leading TV channels, AAJ TV from 11 April 2007. The show is hosted by TV personality and journalist Fasi Zaka and co-hosted by eccentric journalist and writer, Nadeem F. Paracha and fashion journalist, Mohsin Sayeed.

Iceland had a version called Þetta Helst (Translation: "Top Stories") in the mid-nineties, which aired on RÚV (The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service).

A weekly panel show the Russian Channel One called Projektorparishilton (Прожекторперисхилтон) uses similar format. Four hosts discuss in a satirical manner current affairs read from local and international newspapers and magazines, with one (occasionally, two or more) celebrity guest joining them in the midst of the show. The first episode was aired on 17 May 2008.

The Taiwanese talk show Kangxi Lai Le has elements similar to Have I Got News for You's topical discussion and comedic bantering. However, the comedy is mostly written for the hosts and guests.